Chapter 5: Human Skin Manor (Part 4)

“Ah!” The people behind her all screamed at the same time, and Xiao Muyu’s heart almost stopped beating for a moment as well.

The human skin’s mouth, which was just a slit, actually had rows of sharp, fine teeth. The eye and nose, which were mere holes, were also particularly twisted. At that moment, it was facing Xiao Muyu, less than an arm’s reach away! The fishy stench and musk were so strong, she almost retched!

However, the human skin was unable to get another half inch closer, as Shen Qingqiu’s leg moved like the wind, flawlessly kicking it and stomping on its face.

Then she pressed down firmly on all its limbs. The human skin howled, leaving one’s heart trembling. A group of men and women huddled together, watching the two women stomp on the terrifying human skin. It twisted and struggled until its voice went completely hoarse. It stopped moving, emitting a fishy white smoke, before finally shriveling up.

Xiao Muyu let out a sigh and immediately moved her foot away, her gaze falling on the human skin. She noticed that there was a row of stitches on it, as if it had been sutured. But it looked so disgusting, so Xiao Muyu frowned, and moved a little further away from the human skin, her legs trembling almost imperceptibly.

After a moment, she turned her head, and the group cowered, as if she and Shen Qingqiu were even more terrifying than the human skin.

Shen Qingqiu ignored them, picked up the dagger, examined it, and then found a piece of rag to wipe the blade several times.

The human skins outside dared not enter. They surrounded the house, howling in frustration. The group of people had narrowly escaped death, yet their legs still went weak hearing these howls. Moreover, the two people in front of them had behaved too terrifyingly; for a moment, none of them dared to speak.

The howls continued outside, while inside was dead silent, creating a weird atmosphere.

Shen Qingqiu, seemingly tired, found a long bench to sit on, lazily watching Xiao Muyu. After just going through a life-and-death struggle, Xiao Muyu was also spent. She glanced at Shen Qingqiu, dragged her heavy legs over, and whispered, “Thank you.”

The ‘thank you’ sounded very sincere, yet her eyes showed the opposite. Shen Qingqiu naturally knew why and grinned, saying, “No need to thank me. I did say I hope we can meet again.”

As the two of them chatted like no one else was around, it finally became clear that they were normal people. Aside from two men who shrank back a little, everyone was observing them.

Among them, a neatly dressed girl with a high ponytail whispered, “Is it… is it dead?”

Her question drew everyone’s attention to the human skin. In the room, aside from Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu, there were nine other people, and they all focused their gazes on the curled up, wrinkled skin, clearly still apprehensive.

Xiao Muyu initially didn’t want to speak, but Shen Qingqiu was even more unyielding, not even shifting her gaze. With no other choice, Xiao Muyu could only respond with a simple ‘mm’.

The bolder ones among the group mustered their courage, and cautiously approached. One man in a black leather jacket used a stick to poke at the human skin. Unlike its smooth and flexible appearance while flying, the human skin now looked shriveled and dried up, evidently dead.

“It’s dead. Fortunately, those things don’t dare to come in.” The man poking the skin was in his thirties, and compared to the others, who looked pale and panicked, he seemed quite calm.

This statement did provide some comfort to many, but one woman began to cry, her voice becoming somewhat hysterical as she exclaimed, “What good is it that they can’t come in? Why the hell did we end up in this damn place!? We’re mysteriously dropped in some sh*tty game, without being told anything. How are we supposed to get back? And even if we survive today, who knows what other horrors await us tomorrow?”

Her rhetoric struck a chord with everyone, and many lowered their heads in despair, looking very dejected.

The first girl to speak also lowered her head, looking thoughtfully at her feet, and the atmosphere once again became extremely oppressive.

After quite a while, the girl broke the silence again. “We can’t just sit here and wait. There must be another reason why we were brought here. This house looks quite large; should we check for any clues or see if there are other people?”

One crestfallen bald man replied irritably, “If there were other people here, do you really think they would still be human?”

The girl’s expression changed slightly, and the man in the jacket frowned and responded, “I think the girl has a point. When I ran in earlier, I noticed this house was rather tall, with three floors in total. Forget about people; there should be other things here. Especially at night, who knows if there’s electricity? If not, we need to find some lighting. Otherwise, it will be very inconvenient and unsafe.”

This statement received unanimous agreement from everyone, and the bald man merely curled his lip, saying nothing further.

Xiao Muyu listened to their discussion and then glanced at Shen Qingqiu. Jumbled thoughts rushed through her mind—there were just too many things she didn’t understand. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. The top priority was getting through the current crisis. What were Shen Qingqiu’s intentions, and what was the reason for the bizarre scene before the accident? These questions could wait until they were safe.

As the group began to organize themselves into search teams, no one dared to take the initiative and invite the two of them. The man in the jacket hesitated before speaking up, “Would you two like to join us?”

Shen Qingqiu quirked an eyebrow and looked at Xiao Muyu, clearly determined to stick with her.

Xiao Muyu was about to agree. At that moment, she and Shen Qingqiu were standing near the entrance, and to her left was a set of stairs. However, she suddenly felt a weight on her left shoulder, as if someone had placed a hand on her.

But right then, everyone was in front of her, and Shen Qingqiu was to her right, so whose hand was…? She slowly turned her eyes to the left, and there, on her shoulder, was a branch-like hand, the wizened, wrinkled skin covering what seemed to be white bones…

Xiao Muyu’s face changed slightly, while Shen Qingqiu’s previously indolent expression abruptly hardened, her eyes narrowing warily as she looked at something behind Xiao Muyu.

Xiao Muyu immediately turned around. Her sudden movement drew everyone’s gaze in her direction. In the dim light, a wrinkled face as lifeless as dead wood appeared silently behind Xiao Muyu!

The skin on this face was loose and sagging, like cracked bark. The clouded eyes had disproportionately small pupils and overly prominent whites. Overall, it gave off a particularly sickly appearance.

Just as suddenly, the figure quietly leaned her head forward to observe them, scaring the already terrified group to the point where they nearly screamed for their parents. Among them, a young couple almost broke down in tears, clutching each other.

The flattened mouth on that wrinkled face moved, and a rough, low voice came out from her throat: “What are you yelling about?” 

Shen Qingqiu was already reaching out and pulled Xiao Muyu over, catching Xiao Muyu off guard. She was already quivering from fear, and her legs weakened at the unexpected tug, making her fall right into Shen Qingqiu’s arms.

Xiao Muyu promptly stood back up and glanced at Shen Qingqiu, who appeared to be smiling but not really. Without saying anything, Xiao Muyu frowned as she stared at the old woman, unsure whether she was human or something else entirely.

No one dared to answer, all of them watching in fear and wariness at the granny who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Out of this many people, none had noticed there was anyone else in the house, nor had they seen how she suddenly emerged behind Xiao Muyu.

They were in a dilapidated house amidst wild, mountainous terrain, and considering how weird this place was, there was a very high likelihood that this old lady was some kind of ghost.

“You’re all making such a ruckus, disturbing my peace. This old woman is really fed up. Who are you people, and who gave you permission to barge into my house?” As she spoke, her small eyes slid past the face of the woman who had been screaming the loudest. The middle-aged woman’s neck shrank under that gaze.

The old woman looked at Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu, who were closest to her. “Answer my question.”

Xiao Muyu mustered a smile. Usually not one for talking, she had been forced to speak many times already.

“Sorry, Granny, some things were chasing us, and we really had no place to go, so we ended up hiding in your house.”

As soon as Xiao Muyu finished speaking, she noticed the old woman’s eyes and body tremble slightly at the mention of ‘some things’. The face that had terrified them was now filled with terror: “So you all saw those human skins?”

The players immediately confirmed that the old woman was human, and likely the first NPC they had encountered in this so-called game world.

Before anyone else could answer, the old woman had already spotted the human skin on the floor. Her body swayed, and her little feet took small steps that seemed unsteady, but she was by no means slow. She soon stood by the human skin, and crouched down to examine it closely.

Just as everyone looked at each other, the old woman suddenly turned around. Her aged voice sounded almost youthful due to excitement: “Who… who killed this human skin?”

The fervor in her eyes was like an extinguished candle that suddenly rekindled, looking somewhat deranged. Scared, no one dared to respond.

Xiao Muyu, who had been watching this eccentric old woman, answered calmly, “It was me.” As she spoke, she glanced at Shen Qingqiu, who shrugged nonchalantly. Xiao Muyu then added, “And this young lady.”

A few sighs arose from the group. The man in the jacket and the girl from earlier looked anxious; admitting so readily without knowing friend from foe was reckless.

Sure enough, the old woman stared intensely at the two of them with a strange expression. Xiao Muyu, seeing this, glanced at Shen Qingqiu out the corner of her eye, and they both remained composed.

However, in the next moment, the old woman shakily kneeled directly before them, crying out sorrowfully, tears and snot flowing as she said, “After so many years, there are finally people who can deal with those things. Please, young ladies, have mercy and lend this old woman a helping hand. These days have been so hard to endure.”

At the same time, a line of text popped up before everyone: Triggering quest…

Main Quest: Old Woman in the Mountains

Task 1: Understand the old woman’s situation and help her out of her predicament.

Task 2: Survive for 48 hours.

Task Difficulty: Level A

Time limit: 48 hours

That wasn’t the end of it. The voice announcement, after being absent for a long time, suddenly rang out again: “Congratulations to players Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu, for getting the first kill in the instance: Human Skin Manor!”

[Bonus points: 10]

Shen Qingqiu was a little surprised and glanced at Xiao Muyu, her expression becoming slightly thoughtful. Then, a new interface popped up on her panel, displaying a column labeled ‘Points’. After seeing this, her expression became somewhat subtle.

The others present were also exchanging puzzled looks, wondering what kind of turn this was  and why there was a sudden announcement.

However, they weren’t given time to think before the announcement continued:

“All players, please listen carefully to the rules for clearing this instance. Note that the following dialogue will only be read once. You will not have time to review the options.”

Everyone: ……

At a time like this, they were still throwing around such an outdated joke—did they think this was an English listening test?

“Are they really going to be announcing in English?”

A timid voice suddenly emerged from the crowd, and immediately, everyone felt a chill run down their spines. They were already in the year 2060, with technology so advanced that language barriers were practically nonexistent. As portable translation devices became extremely sophisticated, the number of people who actually spoke English decreased, especially among this group of half-hearted students.

“Hello everyone…”

“Damn it, you jinxed it! It’s…it’s actually in English? What the hell, I’m out!”

Upon hearing the opening words, everyone’s spirits sank, with some on the verge of breaking down.

“Shut up and listen carefully!” Shen Qingqiu, who had been silent until now, coldly berated them with a frosty gaze, effectively silencing the group.

“The game will last 48 hours, and the storyline quests have begun…”

The emotionless voice rattled off a series of heavily mechanical-sounding English words, crackled as if it were lagging, then sputtered like a broken record for a long time, before finally resuming in Chinese.

Everyone: ……

“While completing the tasks, you may randomly trigger storylines, get achievements, or score points. The system will allocate points based on your contributions. At the end of the game, players with 60 points or more will successfully pass the level. Players with less than 60 points, or those who die during tasks, will be considered as having failed. The consequence of failure in this round: becoming one of the human skins outside!”

Xiao Muyu clearly heard a collective sigh of relief from the group. This system was truly vicious—it reminded her of a certain someone. She glanced at Shen Qingqiu, who strangely remained calm, as if none of this was surprising to her.

Countdown: 47 : 59 : 59

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Author had something to say:

Shen Qingqiu looked at Xiao Muyu after stealing the amulet: Surprised? Unexpected?

Xiao Muyu looked at Shen Qingqiu after killing a human skin: Surprised? Unexpected?

Old woman addressing Xiao Muyu: Surprised? Unexpected?

Shen and Xiao addressing everyone: Surprised? Unexpected?

The system addressing everyone: Surprised? Unexpected?

Question: Who’s actually playing dirty here?